———
[Attached: A live video feed. Or… snippets of one? The footage will fizzle out at random intervals, but during the stream’s rolling you manage to catch a few key moments.
In the first scene, you see August, carefully navigating their way down a dark corridor. Sheets of frost crawl up the sides of the cave walls around them, and you can see the young trainer shivering rather violently the further they press on, rubbing the sides of their arms to keep warm…
“Have… to keep moving…” They mutter to themself, voice wavering, right before the screen goes black.
•
A few minutes pass before the feed returns. Gizmo is pointing the camera over August’s shoulder, who now appears to be standing in the middle of a giant, frozen cavern. Spikes and pillars of ice are scattered throughout the room around them, and you notice their breaths coming out in white puffs. But the most eye-catching thing are the pair of imposing figures standing before them…
There’s an elderly man, with lank, pale green hair that sticks up in an unusual way, and a red lens over his right eye. He wears a long black cloak with a large collar concealing the bottom half of his face, the flowing fabric decorated with strange eye-like patterns. In his right hand, he wields a cane, with the logo of Team Plasma displayed on it.
Behind him stands… a Pokémon? A dragon type, you immediately assume. Its size and anatomy bring to mind the two legendary dragons of Unova, but whatever this creature is, it certainly isn’t either of them. Jagged armor of ice coat its scaly gray hide, and its two pale yellow eyes shine ominously like torchlight through the darkness. You can hear the beast’s rumbling inhales and exhales, flakes of snow dispersing from its nostrils whenever it breathes out.
The man, who you immediately jump to assume is its trainer, smirks towards August. He takes a relaxed step forward, cane clicking against the ground as his eyes to be analyzing the person before him.
“So, you decided to follow me after all?” he muses, raising a brow. “Well, allow me to formally welcome you to the Giant Chasm, young trainer- or should I say ex-trainer?”
August visibly tenses at that, but doesn’t say a thing as the man continues to monologue. “This sacred place is where Kyurem once fell to after the separation of the Original Dragon- and where its power resonates strongest. Here, it will easily be able to turn your precious Unova into a frozen wasteland!”
With a tap of his cane to the stone ground, the dragon- Kyurem, he called it- bellows in response, its shrill roar causing the cave floor to tremble violently below August’s feet. They gasp as they stumble a little, but hold their ground and balance themselves before shooting the cloaked man a steely glare.
“Why are you doing this, Ghetsis?” They cry out furiously. “You want Unova all to yourself, you want everyone to bend to your will- but why? Why go to such drastic lengths? This won’t give you the power to fix anything!”
Ghetsis simply scoffs at the child’s attempt at a retort, waving his hand dismissively. “Young one, you don’t seem to understand- the power part is all I care about. You think I still hold the ideals of the old Team Plasma; separating humans and Pokémon for the sake of a better world? I thought you would’ve understood by now that it was all just a ruse to sway the people over to my side,” His expression hardens, as he firmly slams the bottom of his cane back down. “Pokémon mean nothing to me, people mean nothing to me- if corrupting their hearts and using their sense of morality against them won’t work, then I will simply make them bow to me using brute force!”
August just growls under their breath, feeling their composure slipping as they reach for a Pokéball from their belt. Seeing this, the corners of Ghetsis’ mouth curl into a twisted grin.
“I have a memory that continues to haunt me,” he goes on calmly, ignoring August’s threatening stance. “Just one.”
He strolls over to the other side of Kyurem, tapping his finger pensively against the top of his cane as he casts a melancholy gaze towards the cave wall, brows furrowing as he appears to reminisce upon something. “That unpleasant look in your eyes reminds me of it,” he acknowledges August with an irritated side glare. “Burning with as much fiery conviction as that little nuisance from two years ago.”
“But,” his voice switches to a mockingly pleasant tone, as he turns and spreads his arms out to the sides. “All that aside, allow me to bestow upon a gift, to show my respect for making it this far. You’ve proved to be quite the thorn in Team Plasma’s side- even besting the Shadow Triad and Colress.”
His expression then morphs into a cold, unforgiving scowl. “I shall freeze you solid right here and now, so you may watch my glorious ascent! And then, you will suffer a fate far worse than the one I orchestrated for that pathetic excuse of a hero!”
With a snap of his fingers, he barks the command. “Kyurem! Glaciate!”
Before August can have a chance to react, the dragon obeys, inhaling in a sharp breath and standing to its full height. A pale white glow emits from its armor of frost, as what can only be described as a blizzard begins to swirl around the room in a ring of frigid winds. Slowly, levitating spears of ice begin to take shape, whirring around rapidly and circling in on August from all sides, preventing them from running. Once they reach full size, the blades begin to withdraw back, thrumming with Kyurem’s raw power as they prepare to land the finishing blow…
In a heartbeat, the icy spears spring forwards and hone in on August- and all they can do is crouch to the ground, throw their arms up over their head, and pray for a miracle.
“FUSION BOLT!”
You barely register the familiar voice that cries out from somewhere offscreen, before Kyurem’s attack is abruptly intercepted by a crackling, electric blue light. Gizmo gets knocked back by the blast, and yet again, the footage cuts to static.
•
The feed returns after a bit of a longer period of silence this time. The camera wobbles as Gizmo weakly lifts itself back up, but as it rises from the ground and steadies you can see something past the grains of dust covering the camera.
August was knocked onto their back, but seems relatively unharmed. In front of them… there’s a familiar figure. Green hair swaying behind him, you watch as N stands before his friend’s attacker. At his side… is none other than his old companion, the legendary dragon of ideals- Zekrom.
The awe-inspiring sight of the divine creature in the flesh is almost enough to distract you from the sound of N’s voice ringing out through the cavern. “I understand now why Zekrom had been acting strange, vanishing for a whole month,” he states. “She knew Kyurem was suffering- at your hands, no less.”
“Suffering?” Ghetsis chuckles condescendingly, completely unfazed. “For the freak who’s supposed to understand the hearts of Pokémon, you’ve clearly had a misread on Kyurem’s.” He gestures dramatically to the frozen beast at his side. “I have given Kyurem purpose! Forgotten for centuries, left to rot beneath the ice by its other halves- if anything, you should be thanking me! Now it shall have the honor of assisting me in paving a way to a glorious new world!”
Zekrom snarls at that, to which Kyurem retorts with an indignant snuff. From the way the dragons glare at each other, you can see a long festering bitterness behind each of their eyes, telling an unspoken tale of history between them. You can only imagine what it is…
N looks between the two dragons, biting his lip as he turns to face the man before him once more. “So you’ve twisted its heart and its pain to make it do your own bidding…” he growls. “…Just as you did with me. And countless others. Here I had hoped you had changed, but unfortunately I can’t say I’m very surprised.”
He sucks in a deep breath, before stepping forward. “I will not allow selfish humans to make Pokémon suffer,” he declares. “Unova- it isn’t perfect, but I like it here. It’s the place that taught me to live as a human…” His hand slides up to grip the black and white stone hanging from his necklace, as he casts a momentary glance back at August. “…and made me notice the harmony of people and Pokémon living alongside one another. And I will do everything in my power to protect that harmony- especially from the likes of you.”
Ghetsis falls silent, watching N with this unreadable frown plastered upon his face. But then, it cracks into a grin, before a dark chuckle escapes Ghetsis as he claps his hands together.
“Good, good,” he says. “That was a moving expression of your determination! It seems the education I provided you in order to make you king wasn’t a complete waste!”
“But I still haven’t forgotten that even after everything I had done for you, all the kindness I extended you-” Ghetsis glowers, slamming his staff again. “Took you in, raised you, cared for you, taught you everything you know- you still had the gall to selfishly turn on Team Plasma and thwart my plans! I was supposed to use your abilities to rule Unova!”
Then, he closes his eyes, relaxes himself, and straightens up. “But, I will forgive you for all of that as well- for you have bestowed upon me the final piece needed in order to carry out my mission-”
“Zekrom, which you were kind enough to bring me,” he gestures to the giant black dragon at N’s side. “Is the key to unlocking Kyurem’s true potential! You’ve saved me quite the trouble. I was originally counting on the arrival of her counterpart, but the goddess of Ideals will work just as well.”
He then raises a hand from his cloak, tapping his chin. “Well, actually, that’s not entirely true- you were a bit of a plan B. I had a feeling you’d come after us after we fired those ice missiles into Opelucid City- and of course, displayed to everyone the demise of that little hero of Truth you hold oh so dearly…”
N grits his teeth, and Ghetsis smiles, knowing he’s struck a nerve. “You will not get away for what you did to them,” the young man seethes. “Your plan- it will never work. It’s an ugly formula.”
Brushing off his threat, Ghetsis simply continues. “Oh, but I assure you, it will!” He switches his cane to his other hand so he can reach for something inside the pocket of his cloak. From it, he pulls out a triangular device- it resembles a syringe, of sorts, with a color pallet resembling Kyurem’s. “With the help of these- the DNA Splicers! Watch and learn!”
He turns to Kyurem, and promptly stabs the device into the beast’s shoulder. Kyurem hisses and recoils in pain- its eyes and the yellow horn jutting out between its ice helmet beginning to thrum with energy.
Cracks dance across the ice trapping its wing-like appendages, before they completely shatter- allowing pink, sharp-ended tendrils to burst forth from the dragons’ body. They loom menacingly in the air above Kyurem for a beat longer, before suddenly lunging themselves at Zekrom like whips.
Realizing they were coming for his partner, N whirls and cries out to the Legendary. “ZEKROM!”
With a shriek of terror, Zekrom launches into the skies, twirling around wildly to narrowly avoid the tendrils as they grab for her. She moves with incredible speed, managing to outlast them for a good while, but the pursuit is cut short sooner than you had hoped- Kyurem is faster, and the tendrils expand out to entangle Zekrom within their grasp. As they tighten their hold on her, she roars helplessly as they begin to pull against her and drag her back to the ground.
The tendrils almost seem to drain her energy like a leech, leaving her no choice but to let herself plummet from the air. In her descent, her body is encased in a blue light- and in seconds, she’s retreated into the form of a round, black stone that soon clatters pitifully to the floor.
N stiffens in shock at the sight of his mighty companion being brought to defeat, just like that. “Z-Zekrom…”
“Kyurem!” Ghetsis shouts another order, pointing his staff in the direction of Zekrom’s slumbering form. “Absorb the Dark Stone, now!”
Stomping forwards, Kyurem extends out its clawed wings and seems to draw the stone towards it with a stream of swirling pink light, like some sort of magnetic pulse. The orb hovers over Kyurem’s head, and the creature almost appears to take in an inhale of relief, like it had been awaiting this moment.
The Dark Stone begins to shrink in size, its power getting vacuumed through the swirls of energy attaching it to Kyurem. The icy beast closes its eyes, as a white crackles of electricity begin to shoot up from the ground around it…
•
The feed flickers out again, but not for as long this time.
When it cuts back in, you can see Kyurem- or… Zekrom…? It looks like Kyurem, but it’s gained many of the electric deity’s traits. The strange and somewhat terrifying amalgamation of the two dragons stands tall and menacingly beside Ghetsis, breathing in and out heavily, puffs of steam swirling out from its nostrils. Veins of blue energy stretch out from its ice-plated shoulders, connecting to several slots along its bulky, unnaturally twisted tail.
N is stunned speechless. He stands there, hand trembling as he beholds the monstrosity his legendary companion had been absorbed into. August hesitantly rises to their feet behind him, eyes bulged with shock.
Amused by their reactions, Ghetsis snickers darkly. “Do you understand now, N?” he says patronizingly. “If you had simply become king, none of this would have had to happen. No one would’ve had to die. Unova would’ve remained beautiful…”
It’s clear that the man’s words have their intended effect- N’s eyes trail to the ground, as he clenches his fist and grits his teeth. You can practically see the gears turning behind his eyes, trying to think of anything he can do, anything he can say back- but nothing comes out.
“And now, I shall rule over with an iron fist,” Ghetsis continues, that ever present twisted grin still on his face as he rises his cane up triumphantly. “-all because you were too weak hearted to rise up into the role I wasted decades preparing you for.”
“LEAVE HIM ALONE!”
The shout that echoes throughout the chasm causes N to look up, his mouth falling open when he raises his head to see none other than August- standing firmly between him and the merged Kyurem, a Pokéball clutched in hand.
“You don’t get to talk to him like that,” August hisses, and you can’t help but notice something about them has changed… Their voice almost sounded deeper, carrying an ethereal echo to it, exuding power and determination. There was an unnatural, crystal blue glow illuminating their dark brown eyes, swirling in wisps of light like the flow of water.
“Oh?” Ghetsis cocks a brow at them, not very amused by their attempt at intimidation. “So it would seem there’s more to you than just an impudent, nosy child from some nowhere town. Well then…” He clasps his hands together, a challenging smirk appearing on his features. “I was just planning on freezing you two solid where you stood, but now my interest is piqued. If you’re so bold as to continue standing against a force as unstoppable as my Kyurem, then I’ll give you a fighting chance- face down Kyurem, alone!”
N takes in a sharp breath, tensing up in fear, before turning to August and quickly shaking his head. “August, don’t.” he pleaded. “This isn’t your fight-”
“Yes, it is,” August replied firmly, without even looking back at him. They grip the Pokéball in their hand tighter, their stance unwavering as they address Ghetsis once more. “I accept your challenge, Ghetsis.”
Kyurem’s trainer is silent for a moment, eyes calm and calculating as he stares August down, as if he’s trying to read them for any hidden fear beneath their steely gaze. Then, his sinister grin returns, and he takes a step back- making a sweeping gesture with his arm towards the open space that would act as their battlefield. “Very well,” he snickers. “Be my guest. I for one can’t wait to see all that fighting spirit dwindle from your eyes as Kyurem mercilessly crushes each of your pathetic Pokémon!”
August didn’t bother to give a retort back- they just remained silent as they stepped forwards, unshaken in the shadow of their glowering, godly opponent. Out came their first Pokémon- A Samurott, the jagged point on its armored head glistening in the dim light pouring in through the cavern. August threw out the first command- and just like that, the battle began.
“RAZOR SHELL!”
Samurott lunges forward with one of it sword-shaped shells drawn, slashing at Kyurem’s neck. The tip of the blade drags across the dragon’s black and gray scales, but to the Water-type starter’s shock- barely even leave a scratch.
In response, Kyurem simply swatted the otter Pokémon away with its heavy, ice-covered arm, and August grit their teeth as they watched their starter tumble across the ground. Thankfully, Samurott landed on its feet- but not long before Kyurem let loose a blast of raw, draconic energy that it’d have to scramble away to avoid.
This battle with seemingly impossible odds raged on for what felt like well over an hour- with August switching out frequently between Pokémon every two turns or so to try and avoid any knockouts. That strategy wouldn’t be effective forever, though- it only lead to Kyurem getting more annoyed; and more viscous with its retaliations.
One by one, each of August’s team began to succumb to exhaustion. “SHIVER!” They cried out as their Beartic was brought to his knees with a pained grunt, having just endured a brutal Slash attack, before keeling over onto his side in defeat.
Growling under their breath, August recalled him to his Pokéball- clicking it back onto their belt before sending in their trusty Samurott once more. They took a moment to examine Kyurem’s condition- it was growing tired, and even suffering from a burn their Darmanitan had inflicted earlier on in the fight, but it looked capable of holding out a bit longer. Much longer than their Samurott- who looked like he was standing on his last leg, even using one of his swords to support his weight.
The outcome of this match wasn’t likely going to end in August’s favor- that much was certain. Seeing this, N ran forwards, grabbing the teen’s shoulder to try and urge them to back down now while they still could.
“August, it’s not worth it,” he begged. “That thing is too powerful! We have to run- NOW!”
“No!” August almost screamed back, yanking their arm away. To N’s surprise, he was greeted by the sight of tears beginning to pour down from their eyes when they whirled around to face him. “I was useless back in Opelucid City- I’m not letting the same thing happen again now! We might not even get another chance to stop him!”
“Listen to the freak, child,” Ghetsis taunted from across the battlefield. “Victory is already within my grasp! Turn back now, and maybe you’ll live long enough to see me rise to the top!”
Clenching their fist, August turned back to Ghetsis and Kyurem defiantly. Just as they were to about to dish out another order to their Samurott, however, they stopped upon noticing the blue tubes protruding from the legendary dragon’s back start to pulsate with light once more. Rearing its head back, Kyurem let out a bellowing screech as it took a deep inhale of frosty air, slowly building up a giant chunk of glowing ice between its maw. At the same time, sparks began crackling in the back of its throat, imbuing the icicle with electrical energy.
It was- without a doubt- building up to be a devastating strike. One that might just cause the whole room to collapse. Without hesitation, N firmly grabbed August’s arm and yanked them away, ignoring their protests while reaching for the camera and snatching Gizmo out of the air. Everything becomes an unintelligible blur, and all you can hear are footsteps pounding against stone and N’s frantic panting as he makes a run for it.
There’s a rumble, and you catch a flash of red heat whoosh past in all the chaos… Everything begins to shake violently as an explosion goes off in the background, and you hear N and August yelp as they tumble forwards. Gizmo lets out a series of distressed beeps as he rolls across the ground, cracks spreading across his screen. For a moment, your heart drops, thinking they weren’t able to escape the blow…
…But then, Gizmo looks up. N is crumpled on the ground, having thrown himself over August to protect them. With a groan, he manages to sit up, and beholds the figure waiting behind him…
His jaw drops open at the sight of brilliant, flowing white feathers, aglow with wispy, orange flames. The radiant being who’d come to his rescue rises to its full height, craning its long neck back as it lets out an ethereal scream towards the heavens…
You hear N whisper its name under his breath. “Reshiram…”
And on its back, you catch a glimpse of a figure with pink hair.]
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